1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photographing system, which is preferably used in a photo studio to speedily provide photographs meeting a customer""s request at relatively low prices, and a photographing method.
2. Disclosure of the Prior Art
In the past, the photographic technology for recording an image of a subject on a photosensitive material is well known. As compared with image recording technologies using electric signals, photographs are excellent in resolution and granularity. In addition, after developing and printing treatments, it is possible to see the photographs at any time without using displaying devices such as monitors. Therefore, the photographs are widely used in a photo studio.
On the other hand, when the photographs of the subject are taken in the photo studio, whether the photographs have been taken well or not can not be checked until the developing and printing treatments are finished. In addition, if no photograph meeting a customer""s request is obtained, the photographing operation has to be tried again in the photo studio. These cause considerable wastes of time and money. In recent years, though time required finishing the developing and printing treatments has been shortened, it takes at least 30 minutes under the present circumstances.
To avoid the waste of time, a service of successively taking a large number of photographs and selecting good photographs meeting the customer""s request from the photographs is proposed. However, there is another problem of causing wastes of a developer used in the developing treatment and printing papers used in the printing treatment
To solve this kind of problem, Japanese Patent Publication [kokoku] No. 7-113733 discloses a photographing method comprising the steps of recording images of a subject on a photosensitive material, taking still images of the subject with a TV camera or a digital camera, checking the quality of each of the still images on a display unit, and performing the developing and printing treatments with respect to the images on the photosensitive material corresponding to desired still images.
In general, the photosensitive material is of a roll-type or sheet-type, which is numbered in consecutive order. Therefore, when a proper identification code is given to each of the still images, it is possible to readily obtain a one-to-one correspondence between the consecutive number of the photosensitive material and the identification code. That is, a desired image on the photosensitive material can be selected according to the identification code of the corresponding still image.
However, in point of fact, since the consecutive number of the photosensitive material is not in agreement with the identification code of the still image, it is required to separately perform an operation of checking the one-to-one correspondence therebetween. As the number of the photographs increases, it becomes a burdensome operation.
Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved photographing system for speedily providing photographs meeting a customer""s request at relatively low prices. That is, the photographing system comprises: a film camera for recording an image of a subject on a photosensitive material; an electronic camera for taking a still image of the subject in synchronization with a release of a shutter of the film camera, which is disposed such that a visual field of the electronic camera has a part of the visual field of the film camera; an identification-code generator for generating an identification code every photographing operation with use of the film camera and the electronic camera; an identification-code writing unit for writing the identification code at a position other than the image on the photosensitive material to make a one-to-one correspondence between the image on the photosensitive material and the identification code; a still-image recorder for recording the still image taken by the electronic camera together with the identification code; a playback unit for retrieving the still image from the still-image recorder; a first monitor having a plural-part split screen, on which a plurality of still images obtained by repeating the photographing operation can be simultaneously displayed with corresponding identification codes; a still-image selector for selecting a desired still image from the still images displayed on the first monitor; and a second monitor having a plural-part split screen, on which the desired still image selected by the still-image selector can be displayed with the corresponding identification code.
In the above photographing system of the present invention, a desired still image meeting the customer""s request can be selected from the still images recorded in the still-image recorder prior to the developing and printing treatments of the photosensitive material. In addition, since the identification code of the desired still image is equal to the identification code of the corresponding image on the photosensitive material, the image on the photosensitive material corresponding to the desired still image can be readily identified by the identification code. Thus, by reducing efforts to check the correspondence between the still image on the monitor and the image on the photosensitive material and saving the amounts used of a developer and printing papers, it is possible to speedily provide the photographs of the desired images at relatively low prices.
It is preferred that the photographing system farther comprises an input unit for inputting an additional code for making a classification of the still images to the identification code. In this case, since the additional code can be input to the identification code by the input unit, it is possible to retrieve still images satisfying required conditions from a large number of still images taken in the photo studio according to the additional code. Therefore, the operation of selecting the desired image meeting the customer""s request can be further enhanced.
It is also preferred that the photographing system further comprises a third monitor having an unsplit screen, on which the desired still image selected by the still-image selector can be enlarged and displayed. In this case, it is possible to more carefully check the details of the selected still image on the third monitor.
It is further preferred that the photographing system comprises an additional recorder for recording the identification code of the desired still image selected by the still-image selector. In this case, it is possible to readily grasp the still images to be developed and printed.
Moreover, it is preferred that the photographing system further comprises a zoom unit for selectively providing a first mode for displaying the desired still image selected by the still-image selector on the third monitor, and a second mode for designating a region of the desired still image and displaying an enlarged view of the designated region on the third monitor. In this case, a further improvement in the checking operation of the details of the selected still image is obtained.
In addition, it is preferred that a visual field of the film camera is in agreement with the visual field of the electronic camera, and the photographing system comprises a trimming unit having the capability of automatically determining a printing range of the image on the photosensitive material according to a region of the desired still image designated by the zoom unit. In this case, when it is required removing undesired portions from the image on the photosensitive material by the trimming unit to obtain a desired photograph, the customer can readily designate the undesired portions of the corresponding still image on the third monitor by use of the zoom unit. In addition, since the printing range is automatically determined according to the designated undesired portions of the still image by the trending unit, it is possible to reduce the cost for the trimming operation.
In addition, it is preferred that the additional code is a group code for classifying the still images according to photographing contents, and the playback unit retrieves the still images having the same group code from the still-image recorder to simultaneously display the still images on the first monitor. In this case, since the still images can be classified to plural groups according to the photographing contents such as customer name or photographing conditions, it is possible to efficiently retrieve a required group of the still images from the still-image recorder.
It is also preferred that the playback unit has the capability of retrieving yet-to-be displayed still images having a same group code from the still-image recorder to simultaneously display the still images on the first monitor.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a photographing method comprising the following steps. That is, an image of a subject is recorded on a photosensitive material by a film camera. A still image of the subject is taken by an electronic camera in synchronization with a release of a shutter of the film camera. An identification code generated every photographing operation with use of the film camera and the electronic camera is written at a position other than the image on the photosensitive material to make a one-to-one correspondence between the image on the photosensitive material and the identification code. The still image taken by the electronic camera is recorded together with the identification code in a still-image recorder. A plurality of still images obtained by repeating the photographing operation are retrieved from the still-image recorder. The retrieved still images are simultaneously displayed together with corresponding identification codes on a first monitor having a plural-part split screen. Next, a desired still image is selected from the still images displayed on the first monitor. The desired still image is displayed together with the corresponding identification code on a second monitor having a plural-part split screen. The image on the photosensitive material having the identification code that is the same as the identification code displayed on the second monitor is printed.
These and still other objects and advantages will become more apparent from the following embodiments of the invention.